A century of history: George Street, in Croydon town centre, in 1925, when judging by the newspaper reports of the day, crimes were being committed on a daily basis
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: In the Roaring Twenties, the local paper was filled with reports from the magistrates court of armed crime, drunkenness and ‘inexplicable frivolity’, as DAVID MORGAN delves into the archives for more of the events of March 1925
Speakeasy: undercover reporters from The Croydon Times found night clubs operating into the small hours, with dancing and card games
The Croydon Times from exactly 100 years ago provides us with a picture of Croydon life back in the “Roaring Twenties”. It wasn’t roaring for everyone, though.
The number of law and order stories which filled the paper in 1925 revealed aspects of human frailty and shortcomings, tempered with acts of kindness. As well as reflecting a time when every local newspaper had its own, dedicated court reporter.
A youth by the name of Jesse, who lived in Selsdon Road, was stopped by the police for riding a tricycle without proper lights in South End. When the case came before Mr Francis Allen JP, Jesse was fined a half crown, 2 shillings and 6d – 12½p in decimalised currency. It was a lot of money in those days…
The 78-year-old father of the youth spoke in his defence. He agreed that the lights on his son’s tricycle weren’t working properly but that, in mitigation, the household had been in some upset due to illness.
After hearing of the father’s explanation the magistrate took pity on the boy and said he would pay the fine himself. He then gave a half-a-crown to the warrant officer. Not every magistrate would have paid the fine which he had just issued. Perhaps Allen was a particularly lenient Justice of the Peace.
In another article reporting on criminality, the headline “Pistol and Knuckle Duster” certainly grabbed the attention of the reader. The article went on to tell the story of 16- and a 17-year-olds who were arrested in South Norwood. They were charged with acting in a disorderly fashion in Clifton Road. Then, as now, the names of minors were withheld from news reports of court proceedings.
Small ads: all human life – and lots of rooms to rent – is to be found in the newspaper’s classified columns
One of the youths was found in possession of a knuckle duster and the other had a toy pistol, together with some pellets. When asked about the knuckle duster, one told the magistrate that he had only had it a couple of hours and had got it from a friend. The other youth told the magistrate that he had the pistol, which was damaged, for some time.
The chair of the bench confiscated both weapons and the youths were bound over, to be of good behaviour for 12 months.
Two young detective officers were involved in a violent struggle when they arrested a 21-year-old man on London Road, West Croydon, in the early hours. They had observed him trying various shop doorhandles as he walked down the street. Apprehending him was difficult, as he tried to run away.
After his arrest, the accused was searched at the police station where it was discovered that he had a long bladed Swedish sheath knife hidden under his clothing. After his explanation, the man, who was of no fixed abode, was remanded in custody for a week to allow further inquiries to take place.
A 34-year-old man was arrested and came up in front of the Croydon magistrates after he was charged with “wandering abroad with no visible means of subsistence”.
He told the bench that he had lost his job as a machinist six months ago and had managed only an odd day or two of employment since. He had spent five hours singing on the street in Tooting and got only 2d – tuppence, the equivalent of 1p today – for his busking. He was sleeping on a park bench when he was detained. The magistrates discharged him after hearing the evidence.
When another man tried to gain entry to a dance at the Baths Hall without a ticket, he was apprehended by a police constable. Matters then got out of hand and the man punched the officer, cutting his lip and loosening some teeth. When brought before the magistrates he was found guilty and given a prison sentence of 14 days or a £4 fine – the equivalent of more than £300 today.
One aspect of police work which took up much of their time centered around alcohol.
In a case brought before the magistrates, the landlord of The Harp at Parson’s Mead was accused of serving customers after hours. A constable on patrol had spotted that “alcoholic liquor” was still being consumed 55 minutes after closing time. After he had gone inside the premises to speak to the landlady, one of the men who was drinking inside the pub went over to the door and blocked the exit for the constable. The man was arrested and, doorway duly unblocked, he was taken to the police station.
The landlady was reported for allowing alcohol to be served and drunk out of hours. The case was adjourned for further evidence to be gathered, as the landlady contested the charge. She said, in front of the magistrate, that it was a club night and the men were finishing drinks which they had ordered earlier.
High society: news from the local Rotarian association was another feature of The Croydon Times in 1925, as ex-servicemen sought work
In another incident, a fracas in North End resulted in the arrest of a woman who was drunk. It was on a Wednesday evening. On the way to the police station the woman became so violent that another constable had to come to the aid of the arresting officer.
When the two police officers and the woman stopped in Church Place to await the police ambulance, a crowd quickly gathered. The two policemen accused one of the onlookers of pushing and shoving them. Tempers, it was reported, flared.
The woman, who had also been shouting and screaming, claimed that she was asking the two policemen to lay their capes down on the ground so she had something to lie on. The magistrate decided that although the policemen were justified in bringing the case forward, there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant a conviction.
The police were also concerned about illegal night clubs, where people drank alcohol into the early hours. The Croydon Times ran this story as they had sent two reporters to a house in West Croydon where “rules were absolutely defied and where young people wasted hours in inexplicable frivolity”.
The reporters bought a supper ticket for 3/6d (three shillings and six pence – 17½p), which entitled them to a “dry” meal. They saw that other punters were getting drinks from a nearby table. When one of them handed his ticket to a “splendidly dressed young lady” behind the buffet counter and asked for a cup of tea, she replied with a wink, “A sixpenny or eighteenpenny?”
The reporter chose the expensive option.
A dainty teacup was handed to the reporter which did contain tea, but there was something much stronger added to it. The reporter thought from the taste that there was whisky was in the cup. It also explained why a young man standing nearby had drunk three in under 10 minutes!
The article continued that dancing often took place until three in the morning. Card games might go on until 4am. This sounds like the Croydon equivalent of a “speakeasy”, except there was no prohibition on alcohol in England at the time, just supposedly strict licensing laws about the hours when premises could serve their customers.
Forty or fifty people would normally attend such gatherings. The reporters recognised several well-known Croydon faces, as well as discovering City workers and local shop workers. The newspaper report spoke of the inability of the police to regulate or intervene in these clubs. It was hoped that a new Bill going through parliament would improve matters.
Collision course: when a man got knocked over in the street, that made headlines in 1925
The police found it difficult to find out where such clubs existed because entry was by introduction only. Many expressed an opinion that unless things changed, the community at large would suffer.
A 45-year-old woman from Burlington Road, Thornton Heath, tried unsuccessfully to plead with the magistrate that the reason she was found lying in the street on a Friday afternoon was that she had been suddenly taken ill. This was at odds with the police version of events, which was that she was found hopelessly drunk on Church Road, Upper Norwood.
The station sergeant at Gypsy Hill Police Station said that the woman smelled strongly of drink when she was brought in and the police matron who went into the cell with her said that she was rambling in her speech. The magistrates did not believe her version of events and fined her 16 shillings.
As the number of cars increased on the roads, so did the number of traffic offences.
The paper reported a case of a male cyclist who lived in Gander Green Lane in Sutton who was arrested for failing to stop when a police constable was standing in the road regulating the traffic flow. The cyclist was fined five shillings.
Police were called when a man was knocked down unconscious outside the bus garage on the Brighton Road. The driver was arrested and later appeared before the magistrates. Described in the newspaper as “a public school-educated man”, Charles Broomhall was accused of dangerous speeding.
Foreign adventure: with so many struggling to find work, the appeal of emigrating to Australia or Canada must have been great
The man who was hit was a bus driver who was crossing the road and said he never heard a hooter and knew nothing until he was hit by the car. One witness said that if the car hadn’t swerved but kept on a straight course, then there wouldn’t have been a collision.
The driver, in his defence, said he was only going at around 17 or 18 mph. He had clearly seen the man who had gone to cross the road. He was running to begin with and would have crossed easily except he dithered and stopped as if in a daze.
The driver braked before the collision. Other witnesses said the car wasn’t speeding.
The magistrate who heard the case was kindly Mr Allen. He told the defendant that there was too much contrary evidence for any conviction, so the case was dismissed.
If all these incidents made people think that Croydon wasn’t the place for them, then there was an alternative. An advert in the paper might have appealed to them.
“Men and boys wanted for farm work in Australia and Canada. Domestics for Canada and Australia. Assisted and advanced passages arranged. Apply to Goldman’s Shipping Offices, opposite Grand Theatre, High Street, Croydon”.
Many of today’s problems arise from peoples’ addictions. As well as that, some people seem unwilling to conform to the law and flagrantly break it. Was human nature so different a hundred years ago?
David Morgan, pictured, is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- Here’s the news in 1925: policing, airport expansion and sport
- Prize-winning ‘English Conrad’ whose books spanned the globe
- From Brooke Bond vans to Bubblecars, Trojan was in top gear
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
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Thanks for another brilliant piece, David. The ‘Croydon Times’? Never heard if it – was it the predecessor of the late and unlamented Sadvertiser?
There was a time when Croydon, and London, had a raft of local and regional newspapers.
According to the latest ABC audit, the Sadvertiser sold 742 copies, on average, per week, in 2024. Yet its publishers continue to receive a subsidy, from the BBC, to pay for a full-time reporter.
I’ve unearthed a treasure trove of family history—though not the kind most people would boast about. A litany of minor crimes, uncovered through old local newspapers, paints a rather colourful picture of my ancestors’ exploits.
My grandfather was fined for illegal Sunday gambling on the streets of Sanderstead in 1930. His father, fresh from the frontline in 1916, made headlines for assaulting a fellow tram passenger in South Croydon who refused to give up his seat for a pregnant woman.
Elsewhere in the family tree, there’s no shortage of mischief. Drunk and disorderly fines abound, alongside an arrest for obscene language on North End. One relative even attempted a daring breakout from a Croydon jail, while another was caught up in gang fighting on Mitcham Common.
Domestic bust-ups, injuries, and imprisonments also made the papers, along with an assortment of petty crimes — motorbike theft, coat snatching, alterations made to a Doctor’s prescription and even the heinous offence of cycling on a footpath.
All in all, the evidence suggests I’m descended from a rather unsavoury bunch.
As David Bowie might have said about us, “God, you’re so fucking Croydon!”
‘Illegal Sunday gambling? IN LEAFY MIDDLE-CLASS SANDERSTEAD? Respect! And … where was the ‘Croydon jail’?
It was described as the town hall gaol.
My uncle Norman Longhurst lived in Sanderstead and brought up his family there, from the 1940s. Perhaps he was a member of your gang of young toughs?
The Sanderstead and South Croydon troublemakers were on my mum’s side so not Longhurst as such.
Phew. That’s a relief Tim!!